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en-usEngadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronicsCopyright 2018 AOL Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/13/recommended-reading-the-case-for-publicly-funded-social-networks/https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/13/recommended-reading-the-case-for-publicly-funded-social-networks/https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/13/recommended-reading-the-case-for-publicly-funded-social-networks/#comments

What if there were a publicly-funded social network open to all that provided a diverse world view rather than an echo chamber catered to one's deeply-held principles? Sounds like a great idea. The Atlanticmakes the case for the PBS of social networks, including why it's needed and what it might look like.

Uber announced that it will start self-driving trials in Pittsburgh later this month, but it was beat to the punch by a much less well-known company. Starting today, nuTonomy will offer rides to Singapore residents in specially equipped Mitsubishi i-MiEV or Renault Zoe electric vehicles. As with Uber, passengers won't be alone with a robotic driver like Silicon Valley's hapless Jared. A nuTonomy engineer will be along to monitor the vehicle, and a safety driver will "assume control if needed to ensure passenger comfort and safety," the company wrote.

A couple of months ago, former Twitter exec Michael Sippey unveiled Talk Show, an app that let you broadcast your text conversations in public. Now there's yet another app in town that does something very similar. It's called Public, and the creator is Avner Ronen, who is probably better known as the founder of Boxee, a streaming set top box that was also a web TV platform (Boxee eventually sold to Samsung a few years ago). Like its name suggests, all of the conversations on Public are, well, public. Think of it as a group discussion with an audience.

Public internet access in Cuba usually comes at a steep price -- a local may have to use a week's wages just to spend an hour emailing their family overseas. However, they now have a much, much more reasonable option. The country's state-run telecom, ETECSA, recently approved the country's first free public WiFi. Cubans who can reach a cultural center in Havana can now use the shared DSL line of a well-known artist (Kcho) as much as they want. The 2Mbps connection is pokey by most standards, but the no-cost approach means that locals don't have to give up what spending power they have just to get online.

The US government has been willing to loosen its grip on satellite data, but what about the info from other countries? Don't worry, that's opening up as well. Russia has declared that the Earth-sensing data it collects from civilian satellites is now available to the public, not just the government -- if you want to track St. Petersburg's urban sprawl, you probably can. Officials are keen to tout the advantages for Russian businesses that rely on maps, but the move should also help anyone who wants a more complete picture of how the world works.

Look, it was no surprise that GoPro has been planning to go public for a while now -- it said as much back in February. Things are finally getting officially official, though: the company just filed its S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, so you can expect to see the ticker symbol GPRO on NASDAQ in due course. There's no shortage of financial types digging through the document as we type (bits to note: the company managed to turn a pretty profit last year, and it shipped a net total of nearly 4 million cameras in 2013), but the story is clear -- GoPro is a big deal, and it's going to get even bigger.

One of the first things I do before I post anything on Facebook is to make sure I know exactly who will see it. If it's a vacation photo of me and my husband, I restrict it to friends and family. If it's just a link to something funny on the internet, I might post it for all the world to see. It's fairly obvious, to me at least, what's meant to be public and what's not. However, that's because I took the time and energy to navigate through Facebook's privacy settings and learn how to protect my updates. Not everyone has the foresight or the luxury to do that -- especially if you joined in college, when such issues might not have mattered so much. It turns out Facebook is all too aware of this problem, and is trying to hammer out some possible solutions.

Microsoft believes the children are our future, and to prove it, it's teamed up with the Computer History Museum to make source code available for two groundbreaking programs: MS-DOS and Word for Windows. In a blog post that outlined the deal, Roy Levin, managing director of Microsoft Research, said the company granted the museum permission to make the code public for MS DOS 1.1 and 2.0 and Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a, "... to help future generations of technologists better understand the roots of personal computing." MS DOS, originally code named "Chess," took root in 1980 when IBM asked Microsoft to produce an OS to run on its computers. Word for Windows was released in 1989, and with in four years had captured half of the revenue of the word-processing market, according to Levin.

Both programs marked the beginnings not only of great successes for Microsoft, but also the PC industry as we know it today. The museum's Chairman, Len Shustek, had this to say about the effort: "We think preserving historic source code like these two programs is key to understanding how software has evolved from primitive roots to become a crucial part of our civilization." The move marks an ongoing effort to make landmark software code available to the public; the museum released the source for the 1989 version of Photoshop early last year.

A number of organizations offer public map data through Google Maps, but finding it can be tricky -- if you even know it exists. That may not be an issue now that Google has just launched its Maps Gallery. The web portal showcases location info from both Google and a slew of its Maps Engine partners, ranging from the World Bank's internet usage stats to National Geographic's historical overlays. This is really just the start of the search firm's map discovery efforts, though. Google tellsTechCrunch that it wants to surface public maps in regular search results, and it would also like to draw attention to Maps Engine Lite data created by amateur cartographers.

Did you win the Titanfall beta lottery? No, you're just pretending to build a crazy kill-death ratio from the innards of a Titan? Well, it's your lucky day - Major Nelson has announced that Titanfall's Xbox One beta will begin opening to the public "later today." That's right, you won't need a code to join in!

In order to enter the beta, sign into your console and look for the download in the "New Game Demos" section of the Game Store. It isn't up just yet, mind you - Major Nelson's post states that the download may "take some time" to appear to all Xbox One users, noting that some users may say it appear before others.

Twitter activity from Respawn Entertainment's Vince Zampella reflects the beta plans, while also noting that the PC beta will also open its gates to the public, "maybe tomorrow."

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Jeff, who wants to crowdsource his wedding photography without any mess. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"As part of my wedding plans, we're expecting plenty of our friends to take pictures of the big day on their smartphones and cameras. I'd like to create a public online photo album to let everyone upload the pictures to one place, and then I can download them later. I'd really rather not have anyone set up an account anywhere (so Flickr won't work) and, ideally, I'd like those who shoot in .RAW to be able to upload the full sized files. Any ideas and suggestions of places would be great, thanks!"

Well, actually, your humble narrator has this same problem early last year. My solution, which won't work for you, was to sign up with a Flickr Pro account and set up a new group. As you can email in images to a specific group email address, we sent this address out on our invitations. That way, anyone who took pictures could just email them straight to the site. As you've said, that's not going to work with .RAW images, so let's turn this question over to the community and see what they can come up with.

This is the first time EVE U's classes will be open to the public, and with courses such as Trading 101, Aggression and Engagement, and Drones 101, you know why they say internet spaceships are serious business.

And if you're an old hat at the game and feel like donning an ascot and pipe and lecturing to a bunch of noobs, EVE U is also looking for teachers and lecturers.

Players chosen will be notified via email, get a voucher code for the download on either PS3 or the PS Vita, and receive "test night information." Presumably, developer SuperBot will aim to test specific heroes, modes, or stages, so it'll direct players that way.

If you don't make this early cut, you'll have to wait until the full game arrives on November 20.
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betafightinginformationplaystation-all-stars-battle-royaleps-all-starspublicpublic-betasuperbotsuperbot-entertainmenttesttestersvoucherWed, 29 Aug 2012 21:00:00 -040011|20312319https://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/26/play-black-ops-2-god-of-war-ascension-dead-space-3-and-more-a/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/26/play-black-ops-2-god-of-war-ascension-dead-space-3-and-more-a/https://www.joystiq.com/2012/07/26/play-black-ops-2-god-of-war-ascension-dead-space-3-and-more-a/#comments

The Expo runs from 11am-4pm on August 29 in San Antonio, Texas, and during that time attendees will be able to play games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, God of War: Ascension, and Dead Space 3, among others. Devs will also be on hand for a number of games, Nintendo will show off the Wii U, and there will be giveaways, autograph signings, and lots more.

Sounds like a fun afternoon in San Antonio. Though if it's anything like our local GameStop, look out for the mom trying to get her kid to leave without a game, the salesperson selling magazine subscriptions, and that guy in the corner who really, really wants to talk about how great Jak 2 was.
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call-of-duty-black-ops-2eventexpogamesgamestopgamestop-expogamestop-expo-2012hands-onmicrosoftnintendoplaystationps3publicsan-antoniowiixboxThu, 26 Jul 2012 23:00:00 -040011|20287339https://www.tuaw.com/2012/07/16/ios-6-beta-3-available-to-developers/https://www.tuaw.com/2012/07/16/ios-6-beta-3-available-to-developers/https://www.tuaw.com/2012/07/16/ios-6-beta-3-available-to-developers/#comments

The third beta version of iOS 6 has been handed out to developers running the new mobile OS as an over-the-air update this morning. The new versions of Xcode haven't quite made their way out into the world yet, but they should soon, giving iOS and Mac developers the option to test and build their apps on the upcoming operating system.

Unfortunately, for those of us not using the latest and greatest developer builds, this only means that iOS 6 is still in progress, and there's still some work to do on it before the release to the public later on this fall. We're going to have to be satisfied with the upcoming version of Mac OS X instead -- Mountain Lion's gold master was just handed out to devs recently, which means it's closer than ever for us.

Update: The Xcode updates have just dropped, and should be available in Software Update right now. The Xcode 4.5 developer preview will allow developers to put apps together for the latest beta of iOS 6, so they can be ready to go on release day.

The NASA control center, responsible for a huge chunk of space-faring history, will open its doors to tour groups for the first time in over 30 years, celebrating the Kennedy Space Center's 50th anniversary. Starting this Friday, a "limited number" of tours will take bright-eyed enthusiasts into the Launch Control Center, where all 152 launches were counted down -- visitors will even get to peer at the very same clock. NASA has also granted access to the "bubble room", which is surrounded by windows showing what went on in the firing room just below. The daily tour also throws in a drive-by viewing of one of the shuttle launch pads. The tours will run through the end of 2012 -- adults will need to fork out an extra $25, while kids will cost $19 on top of the typical entrance fee.

There are varying schools of thought on interacting with your community in public, but the two main ones consist of either answering every question or giving the silent treatment. Blizzard was notorious at one time for not responding to any community feedback in public, presumably to keep the trolls at bay, but that studio's opened up considerably in the last few years.

On the other end of that spectrum is ArenaNet, whose reps answer just about every single question they get on Twitter. This makes for an open line of communication with fans but seems to be ineffective when the same questions are being asked and answered multiple times a day.

So where do you stand on the issue? Do you think a simple FAQ on the website should be referenced and a support team should answer questions privately, or do you think something like Twitter, Facebook, or even a Reddit Ask Me Anything is the best place to answer questions and address concerns from the community?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
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ask-me-anythingcommunitydaily-grindfacebookinteractionmiscellaneousopinionpublicreddittdgthe daily grindthe-daily-grindtwitterFri, 25 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400319|20243370https://www.engadget.com/2012/05/17/facebook-ipo-is-official-38-per-share-on-sale-nasdaq-fb/https://www.engadget.com/2012/05/17/facebook-ipo-is-official-38-per-share-on-sale-nasdaq-fb/https://www.engadget.com/2012/05/17/facebook-ipo-is-official-38-per-share-on-sale-nasdaq-fb/#comments

We largely steer clear of companies going public here at Engadget, but Facebook and its zillions of users warrants an atypical tip of the hat. The outfit has announced that starting tomorrow, 421,233,615 shares of its common stock will be up for grabs at a price to the public of $38 per share. It'll trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol "FB," with the outfit offering 180,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and selling stockholders offering 241,233,615 shares of Class A common stock. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on May 22nd, subject to "customary closing conditions." And with that, we'd like to congratulate a plethora of new billionaires on... well, being billionaires. Don't work too hard, guys and girls.

Battlefield 3 players recently noticed that all of DICE's official servers for the game appeared to be unavailable, and they wondered: What's up with that? What's up with that, EA says, is that the game was too popular. DICE runs a number of official servers, but those servers can also be rented by players, and if too many players rent official servers, they can appear to be unavailable. But EA and DICE say they want what's best for players, so DICE will keep an eye on the policy, and "will reserve a percentage of servers for players who prefer to connect through DICE-hosted servers."

The publisher hopes that will answer player concerns. And if not ... free XP? Starting tomorrow through Sunday, Battlefield 3 is hosting another double XP weekend for all ranked servers and matches, with players earning twice as much experience as usual. This special weekend isn't a direct response to the server concerns, but hey, free points are free points.
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battlefield-3dedicated-serverdiceeapcprivatepublicrentalserver-rentalsserversFri, 11 May 2012 19:00:00 -040011|20236715https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/trion-worlds-may-go-public-following-rifts-success/https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/trion-worlds-may-go-public-following-rifts-success/https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/25/trion-worlds-may-go-public-following-rifts-success/#comments

Want to own a piece of your favorite MMO studio? If you're a fan of Trion Worlds, then you may yet get your chance.

The company announced that it is mulling over a decision to put the company on the market with an IPO. CEO Lars Buttler says that it's just a matter of time at this point: "As we build scale and become more profitable, [an IPO] is clearly on our horizon at some point. We've had a lot of bankers coming to us recently. We keep all of our options open at this point. We definitely have enough substance and enough skill to be a public company at the right time."

Trion has been doing well for itself lately, as it's doubled its staff in 2011 and raised $100 million from investments since 2007. RIFT's success has helped to convince the company that an IPO is a solid move. "RIFT is vastly profitable. It is profitable every single week and every single month," Buttler said.

RIFT isn't Trion's only project, as the company is working on End of Nations, Defiance, and the Red Door publishing platform.
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defianceend-of-nationsfantasygoing-publicinitial-public-offeringipolars-buttlerlegalmiscellaneousmmo industryprofitprofitablepublicred-doorriftstockstock-markettriontrion-worldsTue, 25 Oct 2011 12:00:00 -0400319|20089851https://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/18/googles-photovine-goes-live-with-its-unique-spin-on-photo-shari/https://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/18/googles-photovine-goes-live-with-its-unique-spin-on-photo-shari/https://www.tuaw.com/2011/08/18/googles-photovine-goes-live-with-its-unique-spin-on-photo-shari/#comments

Photovine is Google's latest iOS app and it's best described as a photo-sharing app with a public twist. Unlike Instagram which lets you share your stylized mobile photos with your friends and followers, Photovine ditches the filters and has a much more public slant.

You publish your photo with a theme, caption or category and it becomes a vine. Your vine can be as simple as "photographs of ice cream" to as abstract as "the color orange." Once you create a vine, other people can contribute to that vine and you can watch it grow. Likewise, you can browse other vines and add your own photo. Once your photo is attached to a vine, it becomes public and can be seen on that vine and on your profile.

Photovine was developed by Slide, a company Google acquired last August. The app is available for free from the App Store. And yes, it does resemble Piictu.

So, let's set the stage. You're walking down a semi-busy street in a semi-foreign city. You're curiously hanging close to the middle of the sidewalk. You bust out your smartphone and figure out that your so-called engagement just got "Complicated." Your gait has an irregularity. You look up and spot what appears to be a local, eerily perturbed and somewhat flummoxed by your current position. You dodge left. So does he. You dodge right, knowing full well that it'll only complicate matters when he follows suit. Before long, you're tiptoeing around a stranger while a full-on traffic jam builds up behind you. You've just ruined the universe, and that's not doing anyone any good. The solution? The University of Electro-Communications's Vection Field, which hones in on large moving visual cues that "induce a sense of self-movement." Funny enough, the lenticular lenses pathway here at SIGGRAPH actually worked -- we never expected an optical illusion to solve such a monumental issue, but we'll take it. Vid's past the break, per usual.
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altartconceptdemodemonstrationdesignjapanpedestrianprototypepublicsiggraphsiggraph 2011siggraph2011traffictransitvection fieldvectionfieldvideoFri, 12 Aug 2011 09:22:00 -040021|20014870https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/17/strawberry-tree-brings-free-solar-powered-charging-to-belgrade/https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/17/strawberry-tree-brings-free-solar-powered-charging-to-belgrade/https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/17/strawberry-tree-brings-free-solar-powered-charging-to-belgrade/#commentsDead battery in Belgrade? Head to the city's Obrenovac district, where a group of students has developed the world's first public charging station powered entirely by solar energy. Known as the Strawberry Tree, the structure's 16 ports support a variety of handhelds, allowing pedestrians to juice up their cell phones in just ten to 15 minutes, at no charge. Its built-in batteries can also store up to a month's worth of back-up energy, enabling the station to hum along at night, or even during Serbia's less sunny seasons. In the first 40 days following its November launch, the Strawberry Tree logged some 10,000 charging sessions -- or about ten charges per hour. Creator Miloš Milisavljevic was just 17 years old when he came up with the idea, and now, at the ripe old age of 22, is looking to plant new stations across other Serbian cities, through his Strawberry Energy NGO. He says these installations won't generate much revenue from consumers, but that's not really the idea:

"Energy from the sun is free, and it would be unethical to charge people to use the Strawberry Tree...We are trying to inspire young people to think about the source of the energy they use, and behave and act responsibly."

You can check out the Strawberry Tree in the video below, or find out more about Milisavljevic's ideal-driven endeavors in the full PR.

Where would we be without Google? Well, we wouldn't have pretty charts to gawk at, for starters! The Mountain View squad has pulled 10 years' worth of fiscal data from the US Census Bureau and compiled it into some gorgeous, infinitely sortable, and re-organizable graphs. They inspire both our admiration and apprehension, as their lines illustrate most starkly the shrinkage that replaced US economic growth over the latter half of the last decade. We've only picked out a few of the big states here, but all 50 are in Google's public database -- why not hit the source link and check up on your local governors' pecuniary (mis)management skills, eh?
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altbudgetcensuschartsdatadebtfinancefinancesfundsgooglegovernmentgraphsinformationmoneypublicpublic datapublicdatastatestatesstatisticsstatsunited statesunitedstatesusus census bureauusauscensusbureauvisualizedMon, 28 Mar 2011 15:17:00 -040021|19894327https://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/22/gamescom-2011-advance-tickets-on-sale-now/https://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/22/gamescom-2011-advance-tickets-on-sale-now/https://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/22/gamescom-2011-advance-tickets-on-sale-now/#comments

Advanced ticket sales for the upcoming Gamescom 2011 convention in Cologne, Germany are now on sale, so if you're planning to be in the area then (or have the money and time to flit over to the continent whenever you want -- lucky duck), you can see the sights for just a few Euros. The cheapest day passes, at just €6 ($9), are for students and senior citizens, while standard passes are around €10-15 ($14-21).

Note that these tickets are for the public -- they'll let you in the "entertainment area" of the show, but the business side of the event is only for trade and media attendees. But that's no problem. You can still go over there and have yourself a big ol' partyzeit anyway. The convention kicks off on August 17, 2011.
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colognegamescomgamescom-2011gamescom2011germanypublicsaleticketsTue, 22 Mar 2011 05:00:00 -040011|19886949